Escape The Shackles of Depression
A method for rescuing yourself from being curled up in a ball.
You can’t move.
You’re in your bed.
Or on the couch.
Or, maybe, you’re lying on the frigging floor.
—Because you have been floored. Because something terrible has either punched you in the gut or knocked the wind out of your sails. You have no energy and no purpose. You have nothing left to give. And you stare. Into space.
A doctor might call this “depression,” but let’s not be too hasty. “Depression” is so catch-all and too vague. It gives you a label (also known as a diagnosis), but let’s just think here for a moment.
Or maybe I’ll do the thinking for both of us.
Whether you have lost someone or something, or have “had it up to here,” your mind (I like to call it mind-body) is telling you, “Don’t move. An inch.”
It might be because you’re in a loveless marriage. It might be because you’ve lost your job or hate it. It might be a situation that nobody would EVER understand. It might even be something that you’ve hidden from absolutely everyone.
But the point is—you can’t move.
You don’t want to.
You are either curled up in a ball or can’t figure out how the hell you’re gonna raise your body from the bed.
But if you don’t move—and you probably already know this—you will (inevitably) end up staying this way. And that’s when things can get a lot worse.
I have been in your position many times, and so have others. But let’s be honest here. No one—and I mean NO ONE—can truly understand what has brought you—you, you, you—to this state of utter lifelessness. It doesn’t matter what I or anybody else says. Because nobody could ever TRULY understand what you are going through.
Nonetheless, you must move.
Until you decide to move, and maybe you aren’t quite there yet, but until you decide—the dark side will enjoy your suffering and will gladly encourage you, in ever more subtle ways, to withdraw even further from life, to become even more disconnected from the very spark within you that is the reason that you are here in the first place.
So you must move.
And I have a method that might help you.
It involves three simple tasks:
You are going to make three basic decisions. You will decide on three things you will do today—just today—three DOABLE tasks.
Here is an example:
I am going to put my slippers on my feet. (That’s one.)
I am going to eat a piece of toast. (That’s two.)
I am going to run the bath water and lie in the tub. (Three.)
The key here is to choose three VERY BASIC tasks you have a fair degree of confidence that you can pull off. And sometimes, putting on a pair of slippers can be a mind-boggling affair. But you’ve gotta start somewhere.
The next step?—you do all three tasks.
Three easy tasks for today.
And once you’ve accomplished those three things—you’re done. That’s it! You don’t have to do anything else for the entire day. Whatever you do beyond the three is just filler.
Tomorrow, you will pick three NEW tasks. And once you have accomplished them—again, you’ll call it a day.
Now, in case it happens—after you put on slippers, eat toast, and take a bath—that you decide to watch TV, listen to a song, or wander to the mailbox, understand that you have no other responsibilities. Anything beyond the slippers, toast, and bath, are just icing on the cake. You can’t “fail” at anything beyond the three.
Okay.
What are your three tasks for today?
Remember, no matter how small, they MUST BE three things you believe you can muster the strength (and courage!) to do. They might seem like a mountain, but all of them are achievable.
Three simple things.
Nobody is watching.
Say to yourself:
I am picking three tasks that I know I can do—which might be a tad challenging, especially in this horrible state that I now find myself in. But for me, they will be a minor victory. And that’s good enough for today.
Okay, great.
Now, do it.
Commentary:
Movement is essential. Without motion, we turn to stone. Small wins are big wins in the mind of the cosmos. And over time, perhaps even days, you might find yourself setting four or five goals. But start with three: three, the magic number.